According to an article in the Des Moines Register, right-handed pitcher Mitch Keller has agreed to sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates and will be flying into Pittsburgh on Thursday. No details were released on the signing amount, although Keller said that he got the amount he was looking for. The Pirates took the 6’3″ Keller with the 64th pick overall. He went to Xavier HS in Iowa and had a commitment to North Carolina. His player page can be viewed here.
John started working at Pirates Prospects in 2009, but his connection to the Pittsburgh Pirates started exactly 100 years earlier when Dots Miller debuted for the 1909 World Series champions. John was born in Kearny, NJ, two blocks from the house where Dots Miller grew up. From that hometown hero connection came a love of Pirates history, as well as the sport of baseball.
When he didn't make it as a lefty pitcher with an 80+ MPH fastball and a slider that needed work, John turned to covering the game, eventually focusing in on the prospects side, where his interest was pushed by the big league team being below .500 for so long. John has covered the minors in some form since the 2002 season, and leads the draft and international coverage on Pirates Prospects. He writes daily on Pittsburgh Baseball History, when he's not covering the entire system daily throughout the entire year on Pirates Prospects.
so they didn’t need money from Joe to sign Keller. That is good sign. Glad he is signed and can start playing. Feel a little sorry for his high school team but I’m sure they are happy to have played with someone like Keller.
This could be a nice draft, I was okay with Tucker because he will no doubt stick and ss, Joe could be a solid OF nothing amazing but could be one of those role players down the road that is important and both the prep arms could be good prospects, i mean look what our track record says with prep arms so far.
I think there is doubt that he won’t stick at SS. He is 17. But I think it is pretty certain he will at least be a 3B,SS, or 2B…so that is good.
Two reasons theye selected him one to save money . two because he has the ability to stay at short. Temas valued him higher because of this. Unlike jacob gatewood and michael chavis
He no doubt has the ability to stick at SS. There are just so many that don’t. I am rooting for him to of course.
The best player in the draft. A very important signing and I’m glad we got it done.
Great signing – first step to making this draft a success, at least in terms of getting the right players signed and into the system – Keller was one of the most important along with Tucker and Supak.